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Surgery #10 Update – Home

Everything I wrote in the last update was true. Everything that happened in the OR was different from what anyone expected. When last I updated on the Zachary saga, surgery and GI thought that Zack’s stomach mucosa had prolapsed. The plan was to take Z to the OR as an add-on late in the day on Friday.

Both GI and surgery planned to work together to figure out how to handle the situation. The GI team would perform the endoscopy to look into Zack’s belly. From there, three scenarios were given. One idea was to get the prolapse to reduce (go back inside) and be done. The next was to move the g-tube to a new site and be done. The third was to add-on to moving the g-tube by doing an exploratory laparoscopy to see if the surgeon could tell why Zack keeps intermittently obstructing. We were prepared for all three scenarios, but hoping for the easiest one.

Zack was admitted early Friday morning so that he could get ready on the ward instead of in the Ambulatory Procedure Unit (APU). The APU is a bay style holding area before you go into the pre-op holding area. This place freaks Zack out and as he is anxious enough about medical stuff. Being able to be in his own room is just better for the entire hospital. No, seriously, it’s true… Since he was being added to the OR schedule, that meant lots of time just waiting around. This is how Jim and Zack felt about that.Zack was not happy because the PICC team could not get a vein for his IV. They decided his body was too cold. He was wrapped in blankets with eight hot packs tucked inside. He was definitely warm, but the PICC team was delayed and he was super warm by the time they returned 2.5 hours later.

When they finally took him back, Zack did a really good job of remaining calm. He was able to remain in his room while he received his versed and wheeled down while he was loopy. That made taking him back the best experience we have had in years.

The surgery and GI teams scoped him and found an area of “schmutz” (a technical term I assume) on the stomach wall that they were able to clean up. I guess this was where the g-tube had been rubbing. When they went to reduce the prolapse they discovered that it was not stomach tissue at all. It was a keloid. I read this description of keloids in an article from medicinenet.com

A keloid, sometimes referred to as a keloid scar, is a tough heaped-up scar that rises quite abruptly above the rest of the skin. It usually has a smooth top and a pink or purple color.

The doctors came into our room to tell us they had good news and bad news. I did not like that! They told us about the keloid and how it was an easy fix – the good news. For the life of me, I could not figure out how there could possibly be a down side to that! The surgeon said that the bad news was that the way they had to fix it was probably going to be something that Zack would not like. In Dawn Speak, he cut out the area in a big circle shape, then had to cinch the skin closed, apply some ACell wound healing “paper” over it (cool stuff, you should check it out), suture 4 plastic bumper thingy’s (no idea what they are called) to Zack’s skin temporarily and place his g-tube on these. Got it?

This is a new surgeon to Zack. The surgeon Zack has had for the last 5 years is leaving the military, sadly. We have known his new surgeon for some time and have heard great things about him. However, whenever you work with a new medical team, it takes some time to learn how they work and for them to get to know you. One thing about Zack is that lots of things that should hurt a lot do not (intestinal things) and things that should not hurt do (skinned knees).

Anyway, Zack does not seemed phased by this new configuration of g-tube hardware. It only needs to stay in place for 14 days, yay! However, for those 14 days he is not allowed to participate in PE, recess, karate, PT, ride his bike, run, jump, you know…have fun. He has only asked for Tylenol a few times and seems to be walking around just fine. Our biggest issue, so far, is that the wound and tube are covered in Tegaderm with a little hole cut out for the feeds to attach. The Tegaderm is like a plastic sheet covering the g-tube to protect it. We like that, however, to attach the tube to the g-tube, you have to actually grasp part of it that is under the plastic. This makes attaching the tube quite an event as Zack stomach is sensitive to being pushed on at the moment.

Another issue we had at the hospital is that anesthesia caused Zack to be nauseated for the first time ever. He was sick in the PACU. He got some Zofran and was sick again on the ward. The next morning he woke as happy as could be, except that he was asking the surgical resident and nursing staff for sodium. They did not give him any. Shortly after that, he started to say his head was hurting, took off his glasses, turned off the TV and asked me to close the blinds. Then he started telling me that he needed his stomach vented because the IV fluids were filling his stomach too full. We called the nurse and when she asked him how he felt his said, “Not awesome.”

Zack was given some Zofran and IV Tylenol and still did not feel great. The therapy dogs came to visit and he pet them and went back to bed. Zack does not stay in the bed unless he feels pretty bad. The surgeon came in and said that we should give him his sodium pills and start his CeraLyte back up, but keep him on just sips of clears.

Another thing that happened yesterday was that the surgeon was able to see Zack go 5 1/2 hours without output and the nursing staff saw his belly distend. Zack’s GI knows this happens frequently and we know that there is really nothing we can do about it, but it is weird and frustrating. The surgeon agrees with everyone else that he is obstructing intermittently. We talked about living with this for the past two years and being able to continue doing so since it has not become an emergent issue. But we were also able to talk about how that keeps us a bit anxious most of the time because we know it can lead to more serious issues. We left it at that, but at least he is aware and thinking about it now as well.

Happily, after Zack received all that sodium and a had good night’s sleep he woke up back to normal. He was thrilled to order a pancake for breakfast and noodles for lunch and could not wait to get home.

He got his wish and his best buddy was here waiting to greet him. Now for mom and dad to get some rest……

Hug your babies! But not too tightly if they have just had abdominal surgery….